Remember those creepy/cute Hand Soaps that made appearances on all the design sites? In his latest Consumed column for The New York Times, Rob Walker breaks down the meaning behind Foilage's hit with the soapy little hands. Walker says it's all about a trend for "things that look like other things"...

Recently, we've seen a lot of porcelain made to look like various textures: leather, reptile skin, paper bags, etc., so we know where Walker is coming from. In the quest for explaining the appeal of familiar things in an unfamiliar context, the article continues to break down the psychology behind wanting something that might initially creep you out. While we always enjoy this column (we've posted about it here and here), we highly recommend this latest peak into consumer habits.

In order to track this trend on AT, we've added a new tag for products that we blog that look like other things: mimic. Help us lengthen our list - what things look like other things?